Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Count all the arms in this picture….yup - - that is all four of us in one huge hug!

He’s home, and it is fabulous! We have been enjoying every minute together as family - - we are making the most of every moment we have together. There have been no projects happening here, no sewing machines humming along, no paintbrushes leaving their mark, no furniture getting make-overs and obviously no blog posts happening either! Nope – I’m taking a long awaited break!

Remember last spring when Handsome Hubby left this message for all of you?

Dear blog land- I do not know who all will read this, but I must tell you how fortunate you are to visit this page. I am Handsome Hubby. I affectionately refer to Ms. Design Intervention as "Mrs.. America." I wish you all could see the things she does not post on this blog. She is the most sincere person who is absolutely loving and creative doesn't begin to say what she is. She is everything a man could hope for in a wife. She is fun and brave and supportive and challenging. She also happens to be good at Scrabble! I am glad to share her talents and our various home shots with you. But this summer she is going to disappear for a while. Do not worry... I will loan her out to Blog land again! She is my soul-mate and means more to me than words can express. I pray the Franklins can be a blessing to you through this site. Mrs.. America is truly awesome and I am proud to say she is my wife and the love of my life. ~~ Handsome Hubby from miles away

I hope you didn’t miss that line in there where he says, “this summer she is going to disappear for a while…” Well, since his deployment kept getting extended, he is now home in the fall instead of the summer, but I am still disappearing for awhile! We are taking time to just be a family. I know we can’t make up for the time we missed, but we can make some new memories and enjoy our time with as little stress as possible!

I didn’t forget about the half-way contest that we did! Once I get back to our “new normal” I will post the winner and send out their prize package! I can tell you that I far exceeded my expectations of how many projects I would complete!

Speaking of projects - - here is #200! The kids and I worked on a huge welcome home banner to hang on the garage door to surprise Daddy with and also some signs for the airport! Do you see my kids cute artwork on these signs?

By the way, aren’t these pictures fabulous? When Handsome Hubby came home for R&R, I tried to capture the moment myself. It is very hard to take pictures and run to your husband at the same time!! So, this time, my very talented friend Nicole captured the moment for us. If you live in the DC area, and you are looking for someone super talented to take some fabulous pictures for you, Nicole is your lady!! Check out her other fabulous work on her website!!

Of course, I had to have the perfect patriotic shoes for the occasion!!!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ha! I did it!!! - - I know it only says 199 projects, but number 20o is already done and I will be posting it tomorrow!!! I thought it would be fitting to have just one more re-upholstery project on here before Handsome Hubby’s return. With the completion of this re-upholstered bench, I have a final count of 24 re-upholstery projects during this deployment - - wow!

This was just a simple, curved arm bench, in desperate need of a fabric facelift! The owner of this bench, loves to throw in a little animal print in every room in her house. She is in the process of decorating her master bedroom and decided that a little cheetah was just what her bench and her bedroom needed!

The second project for today is just a simple re-fashioning of one of my shirts. I love this shirt, but it was just a little too tight for comfort. I found myself wanting to wear it, but always choosing to not wear it because I knew I would be uncomfortable in it. So, I decided to re-work it and let it be a super cute shirt for Charise.

All I simply had to do was take in the side seams by about 2” on each side, which also made the arm holes her size. Then I simply stitched together half way up the neck opening so it’s not showing off too much!! Charise is super excited that she has a shirt that Mommy used to wear and I’m happy that my cute shirt will now get to be worn again!

Oh, by the way, did you notice the calendar in the picture above?

Here let me show you again….see those arrows?

What, you say you can’t see it well enough to see them? Look closer!

Yup, it says we are only 1 day away from Daddy/Handsome Hubby leaving for home!!!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

This isn’t a completed project, but I have completed as much as I wanted to finish before Handsome Hubby gets home, and it is a surprise Christmas gift, so I can only give you a little peek at it!!

This is a special quilt I am working on, but I can’t tell you any more about it - -- if you keep following me, I promise that I will show you the completed project and tell you more about it!!

If you are interested in the pattern for this quilt - - you can download it for free here!!! It’s the Amy Butler Nigella quilt - - check out her other free quilt patterns on the same site - - I love them!!

Have I inspired you to go and check out her free patterns - - or even better yet, to make your own quilt?

Monday, September 13, 2010

Yes, that is part of the military life. We move, we make friends, we live life together, and then we move. You just never know which one of you is going to move first. It’s also something that is awesome about the military. We make friends fast and we go deep quickly. There’s not time to mess around, we know we have a limited time together so we make the most of it!!

Shana and I both went through deployments together. Our kids are the same age. Our youngest daughters are twins - - they don’t look anything alike, but they act exactly the same - - they can destroy a clean, organized room in 3o seconds flat and never give it a second thought!

Anyway, I completely regress….so, Shana is moving and they just found their new house (yup, that’s another thing we do, go online, find a house for rent, send a friend who is already stationed at our next duty station to go and check it out, then sign a rental contract without ever actually walking through the house!) and it turns out their bedroom in their new home has one accent wall that is black. So, Shana asked me if I could make her a pillow to put in her new chair that was black, so she can pull the black throughout the room.

What do you think?

Bonne Nuit is French for Goodnight. I designed it with a freestyle script and embroidered it with off-white thread on black fabric. I love this font - - I am definitely going to have to use it on another project soon!!

I loved the pillow so much, I decided that I needed one for my bedroom that I just re-did! I added a little knife pleat border around mine.

The last project for today is another little Oiseau (bird) pillow. I love the green with the brown on this pillow. It is such a sweet, soothing combination!

I’m finishing up the last 4 projects this week. I think I am going to make it to 200 before Handsome Hubby gets home!!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

This is a sweet slipcover. With cording around all the edges, a T cushion, round arms with pleats and a pleated back pillow, there were lots of details and attention required in the creation of this slipcover!

Here’s a picture of the chair before. Yes, it did have a seat cushion and a back pillow, but I had already covered them before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture and honestly, I didn’t feel like wrestling them off for a picture!!

This is a linen like fabric. It was fantastic to work with as far as weight, but it certainly does fray…a lot! I had to use my serger on every seam on this slip-cover to ensure a long life.

This is the softest, most comfy chair I have ever sat in, no wonder her owner wanted a slipcover made!! Her matching couch and ottoman are also getting new slips. I’m sure I will post pictures as soon as they are done!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Ten days till Handsome Hubby leaves country and 8 projects away from 200! Will I reach 200 before he gets home? If I didn’t have anything else to do but projects, I could definitely do it, but with everything that I need to do, I’m not sure if I will make it! This homeschooling is kicking my patootie!! I guess as kids get older, their schoolwork gets more difficult! Go figure!

Here is a project that I was working on two weeks ago. I couldn’t post it right away because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise!!

Our good friends Chad and Elizabeth are expecting their first baby in October. We were all stationed in California together. They are still there, and of course, we are on the other side of the country. So, when I heard that our friends in California were throwing her a baby shower, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

This quilt is made using the techniques found in the book: One Block Wonders

Basically it is a lot of fussy cutting of one fabric into tons of triangles…

And then putting those together for form hexagons…

Then putting all those hexagons together to make the quilt!

These are my favorite quilts to make because you really only have to choose one fabric. All your blocks are made out of the same fabric. See the pink paisley fabric below? That is what all the hexagons are made from. The green fabric is the backing and the polk-a-dot fabric is what I used for the binding. Another plus about these quilts is that they look really involved and detailed, but they are really easy to make!! I made this quilt in two afternoons!

Congratulations Chad and Elizabeth! We can’t wait to meet your little one - - I know you guys are going to be awesome parents!!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

I am super excited to share this next project with you! When my friend, Shana, brought me this picture that she ripped out of her PB catalog and told me she wanted this look for her chair and a half, I was eager to take on the challenge!

Here is a picture of her chair before:

The PB inspiration picture:

The final product!

If you look closely, you will see that I changed out the pillow back and made a fitted cushion back. It completely changes and look and comfort of the chair!

Pleats!!! I am so in love with these pleats! Now I want to re-do all my slip covered pieces and add these pleats to the bottom.

I’m working on writing up a slipcover tutorial for this chair, but be patient. Tutorials are long and involved! They take forever to write!!

Just Me!!

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Who? Me?

I'm a very happy, very busy wife to the most handsome soldier in the world! A sometimes crazy homeschool mom, who does not take lightly the privilege that I have to be home with my two fabulous kiddos teaching them the basics of school and hopefully shaping them into, "a compassionate Godly leader" and "a respectable young lady who loves Jesus!" I love to be creative and frugal at the same time!

I enjoy anything creative. My sewing machine and I are inseparatable and you can find me sitting at it most days after we finish school. I love anything to do with fabric. Quilting, making bags, attempting to make clothes... but my favorite is mixing fabric and furniture. I love making slipcovers and re-upholstering furniture.

Currently I am trying to fill my time with projects while Handsome Hubby is deployed. I'm not really sure what time I am trying to fill since I keep myselft quite busy with taking care of the home and kids, homeschooling, grocery shopping, making meals, taking care of the vehicles and of course laundry. Laundry, laundry and more laundry!!!